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Adjetivo

Spanish Adjective

Written by qualified Spanish expert Inma Sánchez BA
Last updated: 2024-05-28

See also: Adjective Types

Adjectives are a particular type of modifier that describes nouns. For example, colours, shapes, and sizes are all adjectives.

  • una camisa verde - a green shirt
  • una mesa redonda - a round table
  • un árbol grande - a big tree

Spanish adjectives are different from English adjectives in two respects:

1. Spanish adjectives have to agree with the nouns they describe: they change spelling and pronunciation to match the gender and number of their nouns.

  • una casa roja - a red house
  • un globo rojo - a red balloon
  • unas casas rojas - some red houses
  • unos globos rojos - some red balloons

2. English adjectives go in front of nouns, but most Spanish adjectives go after them. If you find an adjective in front of a noun this is for emphasis purposes.

         un frío invierno -  a cold winter

Lessons with more detail on Adjetivo

How to say the most / the least + adjective in Spanish (superlatives)
Bueno, malo, grande become buen, mal, gran before a noun (apócope)
Muy vs Mucho in Spanish (intensifiers)
Forming regular adverbs ending in -mente in Spanish
Using tan ... como = as ... as (comparatives with adjectives and adverbs)
Using demasiado, bastante, suficiente, poco, tanto and mucho to express quantity in Spanish (quantitative adjectives)
Possessive adjectives in Spanish: my, your, his, her, its, our and their (Adjetivos posesivos)
Forming the singular masculine and feminine of regular adjectives in Spanish
Forming regular plural masculine and feminine adjectives in Spanish
Forming the singular masculine and feminine of adjectives ending -e and -a in Spanish
Forming the plural of masculine and feminine adjectives ending in -e and -a in Spanish
Forming the singular feminine of -s ending nationality and place of origin adjectives in Spanish
Forming the plural of -s ending nationality and place of origin adjectives in Spanish
Forming the singular of masculine and feminine adjectives ending in -z and -l
Forming the plural of masculine and feminine Spanish adjectives ending in -z and -l
Forming the singular and plural of adjectives ending in -án, ón, -or
Demonstrative adjectives: ese, esa, esos, esas to say that/those in Spanish (Adjetivos demostrativos)
Demonstrative adjectives: aquel, aquella, aquellos, aquellas = that/those in Spanish [over there] (Adjetivos demostrativos)
Forming comparative adjectives in Spanish: mayor/menor/mejor/peor
Forming singular and plural of Spanish adjectives ending in -ar
Primero and tercero become primer and tercer before a noun (Spanish apócope)
Quantitative adjective in Spanish: cada and todos/-as for "every" in time phrases (Adjetivo cuantitativo)
Using es bueno/malo or está bien/mal in Spanish
Using dicho, dicha, dichos, dichas to say this/these (formal)
Using cuyo, cuya, cuyos, cuyas to say whose + noun (relative adjective)
Forming the plural of -e ending nationality and origin adjectives in Spanish
Forming the singular feminine of -e ending nationality and origin adjectives in Spanish
Using junto, junta, juntos and juntas = together in Spanish
Using neuter article Lo + adjective + ser in Spanish
Position of adjectives in Spanish
Spanish past participles as adjectives
How to say the best/the worst/the oldest/the youngest in Spanish (irregular superlatives)
Igual de ... que = as ... as in Spanish (comparatives with adjectives and adverbs)
Using neuter article Lo + adverb/adjective + que + verb in Spanish
Forming ordinal numbers in Spanish (1st, 2nd, 10th...)
Some adjectives change meaning in Spanish when used with ser or estar
Spanish adjectives used as nouns
Colours in Spanish - gender and number (adjectives)
Numbers from 1,000 to 1,000,000
How to say "both" in Spanish
Using cómo de + adjective/adverb to ask about the degree or extent of a specific quality
Using qué tan/cuán + adjective/adverb to ask about the degree or extent of a specific quality
Using ordinal numbers with events, celebrations, anniversaries in Spanish
Thinking...